What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

July 7th, 2012, 13:19

Saw Rango on DVD yesterday evening. Good Western movie. Don't let yourself be fooled by the DVD's cover. My favourite things in it are … one thing I won't mention to spoil you , one character apparance from another animated series of the 80s , and one sort of modern urRu.

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Just saw Ted. I couldn't stop laughing while watching it. Ted is a comedy film directed, co-written and produced by Seth MacFarlane.

Basically a boy wishes for a friend and gets a magical bear that comes to life. Just remember this is not a PG rated movie but rated R.

In 1985, nearby the city of Brockton, MA (near Boston), John Bennett is a lonely child who dearly wished for his new Christmas gift, a large teddy bear named Ted, to come to life to be his friend. That wish coincided with a falling star and Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) became a fully mobile sentient being. John's parents (Alex Borstein and Ralph Garman) got over the shock, word of the miracle spread and Ted was briefly a celebrity.

In 2012, John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (voiced and motion captured by Seth MacFarlane) are still staunch, if immature, companions enjoying a hedonistic life even while John is pursuing a 4-year-long relationship with a level-headed office worker, Lori Collins (Mila Kunis). As the fourth anniversary of their relationship approaches, Lori hopes to marry John, but she feels he can't move ahead with his life with Ted around, who has become a vulgar, obnoxious wastrel. John is resistant to making his lifelong companion leave, but he is finally persuaded that night to act when the couple discover Ted at home with four prostitutes, one of whom had defecated on the floor during a game of truth or dare.

Originally Posted by bloodlover
The trailer for the new Silent Hill movie is out. Or at least I saw it just now. It looks really good, can't wait to see it since I loved the first movie. Also it has actors from Game of Thrones

I'm not exactly blown away by the trailer.. it looks to be more "teen-oriented" this time. I doubt I'll pay theatre price to see it.

I did like the first SH movie though, and I thought it was one of the better video game to movie adaptions. Although that obviously isn't saying much.

Lockout was quite a positive surprise. It's Sci-Fi action movie taking inspiration from Escape from New York, Die Hard and Minority Report.
The president's daughter gets stuck in an orbital prison after a revolt. Snow, played by Guy Pearce as an over the top John McClane, is sent in to get her out. The usual complications arise.
The film's biggest plus, apart from a brilliant Guy Pearce (he spent months in the gym as preparation for his role), is that it delivers what it promises and doesn't pretend to be more: Lockout is a big budget B movie. The kind of straight actioner Arnold, Stallone, van Damme, Lundgren and to a certain degree Willis made in the 80s. Lockout cost 20M$, looks like 40M$ and wastes no time getting to the point. Characterisations are short, the story thin, logic of secondary importance, the surprises follow genre conventions … but there's a lot of action, and Pearce follows every shot or blow with a sarcastic oneliner. Probably more oneliners than all other actors mentioned above combined over the last 20 years. After 90 minutes of old-fashioned B movie fireworks the whole thing is over.

Watched The Man from Earth, a philosophical sci-fi movie that's pretty much all dialogue. But oh, is it interesting! Highly recommended for a slow evening with some time to kill (hah). A

There were only two other "talk only" movies I've watched and loved: Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Are there others I should see?

— "Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where." ~ Cortez, from The Longest Journey

Norris, Willis and Arnold are only on screen for 10 minutes apiece, but their scenes are strewn around throughout the entire movie. So, when they do show up, you're left wondering, "where the hell did they come from?"

Like the first movie, Statham and Stallone have most of the screen time. I had been hoping that Dolph Lundgren (or any of the other guys) would share the spotlight some more. Way too little Dolph.

The plot is just rubbish. Even by 80's action movie standards.

Most notable, for me, there are way too many tongue-in-cheek moments. Examples include a meme Chuck Norris joke, Arnold & Willis trading yippy-kai-yay/I'll be back one-liners, references to Rambo and Dolph's M.I.T. history, etc.. I realize it's not a movie to take itself seriously, but the cheesiness of it all was pretty thick and over the top.

All in all, it was fun to watch a playground for all these action stars of old masquerading as a movie. Alas, I had hoped for a lot more. As it stands, it's not even as good as the first Expendables. 6/10

I just watched the Hunger Games. I'd agree with the 7. Also saw Toy Story 3 (the girlfriend really wanted to), it was pretty entertaining, I'd say another 7.

In theaters, I went to the Dark Knight Rises. I was really excited for this one (ended up seeing it twice). I'm still not sure where it fits in the trilogy for me, behind the Dark Knight but fighting with Batman Begins for second place honors. probably a 8.5, brought down a bit by some plotholes I had a difficult time looking past.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Had you read the books? Not that it should matter, just wondering.

We enjoyed the movie and thought the players did a decent job, but were all fans of the books since the kids introduced them to us a few years ago.

Nope, I never heard of it before it came out as a movie.

My primary problem with the film is kinda the same as my problem with Prometheus.

Weak characters who behave like complete and utter morons.

I think my favorite example is when the lead girl decides to escape up a tree, and the people hunting her decide to ALL sleep at the bottom of it, without even posting a guard. Why? Because the best way of getting to her is apparently to WAIT her out? This while all the people involved have a very active interest in killing each other. OMG!

I mean, I don't think even Prometheus can match that level of idiocy

That said, and I don't know if I should be ashamed (not really my style) but the lead girl was pretty hot. How old is she?

I asked for the basic reason that when you read a book that is decent, your brain tends to fill in stuff that is either skimmed or missing from the film. The scene you mention is a great example - in the book there is a lot more involving what is going on inside of her head than the physical situation, so it is easier to let go … but in the movie the visual reality becomes a total WTF. But then, these are books for middle school kids really.

As for Jennifer Lawrence, she is 22 (and of course all of the stars of the Hunger Games were much older than the 12-18 they portrayed). She was really good in Winter's Bone, which was a solid movie from 2010.

Originally Posted by txa1265
I asked for the basic reason that when you read a book that is decent, your brain tends to fill in stuff that is either skimmed or missing from the film. The scene you mention is a great example - in the book there is a lot more involving what is going on inside of her head than the physical situation, so it is easier to let go … but in the movie the visual reality becomes a total WTF. But then, these are books for middle school kids really.

I don't doubt that. I can't speak to the quality of the book, but I have to say I knew it was written by a woman after watching it

As for Jennifer Lawrence, she is 22 (and of course all of the stars of the Hunger Games were much older than the 12-18 they portrayed). She was really good in Winter's Bone, which was a solid movie from 2010.

Agreed, I really liked that movie. I'd say she seems a decent actress, but she has a kind of "sleepwalking" quality to her acting that I'm not sure is particularly impressive.